The invention relates to a constant velocity joint with an inner hub and an outer hub, each provided with a plurality of tracks associated with each other in pairs, which accommodate balls guided in a cage to transmit a torque between the inner hub and the outer hub, and with at least one joint connector that is connected to one of the hubs via mutually associated profiles of the hub and the joint connector to transmit a torque in the assembled state of the joint.
Such constant velocity joints are used, for example, in longitudinal driveshafts or in axle shafts of motor vehicles to transmit a torque from an engine to the driven wheels. In the constant velocity joints disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,396,284 (=DE 102 09 933) and GB 2,419,391 (=DE 103 40 583), the outer hub is enclosed by a driver housing, which is, for example, firmly welded to a tubular shaft. The outer hub and the driver housing have profiles associated with each other to transmit a torque. In the assembled state of the joint, the driver housing is axially fixed by a flange on the outer hub.
The profiles are typically formed by grooves and projections extending substantially in axial direction of the joint and having axially parallel sidewalls or flanks with a transition fit. Today, high-precision production processes are usually used for the joint components, such as a chipless process, for example. The transition fit should on the one hand enable the driver housing to be pushed onto the outer hub with maximum ease during assembly and should on the other hand provide the tightest fit possible between the driver housing and the outer hub in the assembled state of the joint.
However, because of the transition fits, there may be a slight play in operation between the outer hub and the driver housing, which causes a minimal relative movement between these components, particularly upon changes in the direction of rotation. In other words, with each change in the direction of rotation of the joint, there may be a differential movement in the joint before the circumferentially arranged sidewalls or flanks of the grooves and projections are adjacent to each other. This can cause an undesirable cracking noise in the joint.
US patent publication no. US 2007/032303 (=DE 103 42 497) proposes a journal and an inner hub designed in such a way that some radial play initially remains when the journal is inserted into the hub to enable the journal to be inserted by hand with ease. Only at the end of the displacement path do the journal and the hub fit tightly against each other in radial direction.